Friday, January 11, 2013

Andrew Cuomo: Riding To 2016 Nomination On New York's Corpse?

After a year or so of governing as a centrist, almost (Bill) Clinton-esque governor, Andrew's taken a hard left turn. Obvious to any who saw his shrieking, hysterical, podium-pounding rant about gun control at the end of his "Ste of the State" speech this week. But why the sudden, radical change? Michael Benjamin in the New York Post:

His chances to succeed President Obama improved markedly with Hillary Clinton’s second brush with blood clots, for the underlying condition can be greatly aggravated by frequent air-pressure changes — which makes the frequent flights of a presidential campaign a potential mortal hazard...But that means guarding his left flank — already under attack by progressives nationally for his embrace of the IDC/GOP coalition in the Senate. So he’s pivoting to show what a Democratic governor in a one-party state can accomplish.To that end, Cuomo on Wednesday unveiled a wish list of progressive touchstones, from women’s equality to gun control to full-day pre-K and a longer school year.The recent radio interview where he mentioned outlawing and confiscating semi-automatic military-style rifles was no accident. He wasn’t talking to gun owners, but to the large anti-gun wing in the Democratic Party.Instead of fixing our broken and underfunded mental health safety net, Cuomo criminalizes ownership of the weapons abused by mentally ill killers.This new unCuomo is letting Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Fox and environmentalist know-nothings dictate the state’s development policies. State scientists have determined that the gas-drilling technique known as hydrofracking can be done safely in the Southern Tier (after all, it’s done safely all across the country) — but unCuomo still delays a decision on ending New York’s ban.He proposed Charge NY, a statewide network of charging stations for electric vehicles — ignoring the lack of progress on his previously announced plans to bring Canadian hydroelectric power downstate...

In a sense, Andrew Cuomois Barack Obama right now. Look what our Mario Jr. is offering: a vast new array of spending programs with no way to pay for them, job-killing environmental policies (and wasteful green initiatives that have proven to be failureselsewhere), and the revocation of the Second Amendment.

No daylight between our two clown princes, it seems, as Cuomo positions himself as the true heir apparent to Obama's velvety throne.

Andrew does have one problem that Obama doesn't: New York State can't print money, so short of raising taxes dramatically, he's got no way of paying for his delusions of liberal grandeur. Furthermore, the new taxes pushed by Obama and voted for by New York's two Democratic senators will have a crippling effect on the state's economy, as the federal government will now be confiscating citizen dollars that may have been spent on businesses and services within the region.

Add to that additional taxes, both enacted and proposed, on Wall Street and major banking concerns - both of whom do the yeoman's work of filling the state's coffers - and the state of New York is heading for a fiscal cliff all of its own. And that's before we start spending what precious little taxpayer money is left on "charging stations".

Andrew Cuomo is betting that national Democrats will ignore the destruction of the Empire State, as long as he has a proven track record of enacting the destructive policies they love the most. And he may be right - as witnessed by the last five years, the party's logo may as well be a wrecking ball colliding into a shining city.

But a lot can change between now and 2016, as all of Barack Obama's polices begin to bear their evil fruit. In a nation that is broke, sick, and weak, gun control and free day-care may no longer be the people's top concerns...